I personally find prank marketing to be pretty awesome, an opinion to which my starry-eyed review of the recent Carrie advertisement attests. At the same time, the whole ‘genre’ is ripe for satire, and Toronto ad agency john st. has pulled off a masterstroke of a parody with a video called ‘exFEARience‘ that cleverly mocks the prank marketing trend.
The video references recent viral hits like Pepsi’s ‘Test Drive’ spot starring Jeff Gordon and LG’s ‘Ultra Reality’ meteor prank. It imagines a more extreme version of those ads that results in “17 restraining orders, 15 lawsuits, and a 15% increase in overall brand awareness.”
‘exFEARience’ is john st.’s first YouTube release in over a year; previously, it mocked marketers who obsess over whether their videos go viral with a fake ad for a ‘Professional Clicking‘ firm. I’m not sure what the next trend in online video advertising will be, but I’m sure that john st. will be there with a spot on parody.
It’s no secret that streaming services are struggling to keep pace with YouTube. Google’s video…
Each week, we handpick a selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends,…
Update: Meta has reversed course in response to community backlash. In an update posted July…
Netflix is making another addition to its lineup of creator content, and this time, it's adding…
The summer of 2026 includes the 250th birthday of the United States, but it's also…
You may remember the story of your first Pokémon card, but you probably don't know the story…